Title

Description

The lessons in this module introduce students to the writings of several key historical figures from the time period and provide alternatives to stereotypical characterizations about the role and importance of women, interfaith relations, the state of learning in medieval times, and the surprising modernity of business practices and cross-cultural trade. The lessons feature study of religion, cities, business, and literacy. Selections from medieval and modern historians—in addition to images, a power point, and film clips—provide context for exploring Mediterranean cities and how they developed, how books were produced, literacy among women and children, how business was conducted along the varied trade routes, and commonalties and levels of interaction among followers of the three major faiths in the region: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

Creator

Tom Verde

Source

Our Shared Past in the Mediterranean: A World History Curriculum Project for Educators

Title

Lesson 3.1: What Does It Take to Make a City?

Subject

Topic 1: Population Patterns and Migration: Why Do People Leave Home?

Description

This lesson asks students to compare and contrast many of the common elements of cities in modern times, and those of the Mediterranean—or within its sphere of influence—during the module time-frame. After brainstorming and listing physical elements of modern cities, students read selections from primary source descriptions of medieval Mediterranean cities and discuss similarities and differences.

Creator

Tom Verde

Source

Our Shared Past in the Mediterranean: A World History Curriculum Project for Educators

Lesson Plan Text

1. Distribute “Student Introduction to Cities” (Student Handout 3.1.1). After students have read the handout, ask them to identify some essential characteristics of modern cities. Record student responses on the board and/or have the students record their answers in a notebook. Questions might include:

• How large is a city in area and population?

• How diverse or cosmopolitan is a city?

• What sort of commercial activity takes place there?

• In what kind of neighborhoods or quarters do people live in a city—in enclaves or mixed together? Why do people congregate in certain areas, and how do such places develop over time?

• Where do they congregate publicly in the city and why?

• What other activities take place in cities?

• How are cities provisioned with food and other supplies? Are they produced in the city’s immediate hinterlands, or must they be brought into the city from farther away? What groups of people supply the city and how?

• What evidence of government structures are found in cities? How are capital cities governed apart from national or imperial governance?

• Who maintains social order? Are there local as well as city-wide institutions, or formal and informal structures?

2. Have students read Student Handout 3.1.2 and ask them to identify the differences and similarities between modern cities and those described by Ibn Khaldun.

3. Have students read Student Handout 3.1.3, and ask them to identify some of the most striking details about medieval Fez described in the text (i.e. what surprised them? what did they recognize? what was unusual?) (Ask for at least 3-4 examples) Ask them to compare this description with Ibn Khaldun’s generic description of North African cities. Focus on common elements.

4. Have students read Student Handout 3.1.4, “Genoa.” Discuss ways in which Genoa is similar to/different from Fez and Ibn Khaldun’s generic city. Ask students to determine what the main focus of the Genoese economy was, and how this activity shaped the city. Use the map to investigate connections between Genoa and other places in the Mediterranean region, both on land and sea.

5. Extension: (optional) For more on Ibn Khaldun, distribute the chapter “The Times of Ibn Khaldun” by Julia Clancy-Smith.

6. Assessment (Optional Project): Have the students, individually or in groups, design their own centrally planned medieval cities, based on the features of cities described in the readings, and the instructions and questions on page 2 of Student Handout 3.1.1. Historically, leaders often established capital cities in their chosen locations, and designed them from scratch. Ask the students to begin by thinking about location—will it be on the coast? on a river? in the mountains? They must include a plan for access to drinking water, food supplies, and activities that would provide a basis for economic activity. Ask them to include resources the city will have and how they obtain them (trade, manufacture, etc.). Will their city’s layout be round? square? rectangular? How will the city be defended, and what kind of weapons and siege strategies will it likely encounter? Part of the activity is determining what factors to bear in mind based on their study of historical cities in this lesson.

Title

Subject

Description

Using modern scholarship and period accounts and literary sources, this lesson traces the Norman migrations south (Sicily) and Arab migrations from east to west (the Hilali migrations). Exploring what motivates people to move in recent history and long ago, the readings on migration during the period trace two important medieval migrations in the Western Mediterranean—the Hilali and Norman invasions.

Creator

Tom Verde

Source

Our Shared Past in the Mediterranean: A World History Curriculum Project for Educators

Date

Rights

Duration

1-2 class periods

Objectives

• Students will trace the Hilali and Norman invasions on maps of the Mediterranean region and analyze the epic poems of Bani Hilal for the causes of migration and the self-image of the Bani Hilal themselves.

• They will hypothesize the probable causes of these migrations and describe their impacts on the regions to which they migrated, as well as on the migrants.

• They will analyze Ibn Khaldun’s writings on the Hilali migrations and contrast them with historians’ assessment of the phenomenon.

• They will compare literary sources on the Norman invasion of Sicily such as Ibn Jubayr.

• They will identify ways in which these migrations added to the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Mediterranean, and compare them to earlier and later examples (Phoenicians, Romans Vandals, Arabs, and later European colonialism).

• They will relate migration to the multi-cultural/multi-national flavor of the Mediterranean during the period, further analyzing the question of what makes a city, i.e. population movement.

Materials

• Student Handout 3.2.1

Lesson Plan Text

1. After asking what motivates people to move in recent history, hand out the readings on migration during the period from the McEvedy Atlas of Medieval History, then readings on the Hilali migrations and the evolution of Norman Sicily after the Norman invasions.

2. Introduce the lesson by asking students to think about what makes people migrate from one place to another. Why do people relocate to other towns, cities, and even countries? What is in it for them, and what does it mean to the people whose lands they come to inhabit? Have them think about their own community/country today and discuss who the immigrant populations are and why they settled there.

3. Next, have students think about and jot down some keywords on what happens in places where immigrants settle. Are they always welcomed? Do they try to blend in, or do they set up neighborhoods or towns reflective of their own culture? Or is it a little of both? Compare military and other types of migrations.

4. After discussing factors influencing migration and its host societies, assign the readings in the lesson that chronicle the movement of Arab Bedouin (nomadic) people across North Africa during the mid-11th to the mid-12th centuries, and the Norman invasion of Sicily at about the same time.

5. Assign the readings and map in Handout 3.2.1 on migration, and have students individually or in pairs answer the questions to think about after the readings. Among the issues raised in the readings are attitudes about the invaders, their impact on the receiving communties, as well as ways in which people mixed and influenced each other in the destination society, for example, how Norman (i.e. northern European) and Arab cultures mingled on the island of Sicily under Norman leadership.

6. VIDEO: The video “Forms and Motifs” from the website Qantara, Mediterranean Heritage at http://www.qantaramed.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=1176&lang=en helps to show how contact between cultures helped to introduce various artistic and architectural concepts and elements from one culture to another. Ask the students to research and identify various Oriental motifs in Western art from the time frame 300 – 1500 CE.

Title

Lesson 3.3: Trade Routes: Goods and Ideas in Motion

Subject

Topic 2: Trade: What Does It Take to Run a Business?

Description

This lesson identifies for students the expanding trading networks across the Mediterranean during this period, highlighting their importance as centers of material as well as intellectual and technological exchange.

Creator

Tom Verde

Source

Our Shared Past in the Mediterranean: A World History Curriculum Project for Educators

Lesson Plan Text

1. Distribute Student Handout 3.3.1, “Introduction to Trade Routes: Goods and Ideas in Motion.” Have the students read the handout, then ask them to consider and identify commodities and consumer goods in modern times.

2. Have the students read Student Handout 3.3.2, “The West-East Trade Deficit: Who Controlled the Flow of Goods and Cash. ” and ask them to identify the aspects of medieval and modern market forces that are common. Then have them continue to read the selections in the handout, which detail who was involved in trading, and what specific goods were traded.

3. Prepare and distribute or display Student Handout 3.3.3 on – Towns and Trade Route Maps during various time periods, and have students complete the activities associated with each map, either in class or as homework, individually or in groups.

Title

Lesson 3.4: What Does It Take to Make a Book?

Subject

Topic 3: Ideas in Motion

Description

This lesson identifies for students how the introduction of paper impacted the Mediterranean and the central role of books and writing in its culture. It also covers the way in which books were used in schools and how pupils learned, including children and women.

Creator

Tom Verde

Source

Our Shared Past in the Mediterranean: A World History Curriculum Project for Educators

Date

Rights

Duration

Lesson will take 1-2 class periods, depending on the use of optional readings.

Objectives

• Students will be able to describe the advantages of paper over other writing materials and explain its significance in terms of broadening literacy

• They will identify the purposes of literacy during the medieval period and the social classes who enjoyed access to literacy and books.

• They will analyze visual representations of books and reading to draw conclusions about the social context of reading

Materials

• PowerPoint Presentation 3.4, “What Does It Take to Make a Book?”

• Student Handout 3.4.1 – Literacy

• Student Handout 3.4.2 – Optional readings 1-3

Lesson Plan Text

1. Students will view PowerPoint presentation 3.4, which includes videos on the making of books, and read texts concerning literacy during the medieval period

2. Show PowerPoint 3.4, “What Does It Take to Make a Book?” or have students view it on their own in a flipped classroom model. Discuss how books were made, the importance of paper, and how books were used, during the era. In what ways was this technology different from what came before it in terms of cost, durability, wide dissemination of ideas (e.g. scrolls on parchment, papyrus and hard writing materials)

3. Distribute or project Student Handouts 3.4.1-3.4.2 and have students read and reflect on the questions at the end of each segment. In addition, students should closely view the images to discover clues about the social context of reading and books.

4. Optional reading: Jonathan Bloom, “Revolution by the Ream: A History of Paper,” Saudi Aramco World magazine, May/June 1999 at http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199903/revolution.by.the.ream-a.history.of.paper.htm.

Title

Lesson 3.5: Houses of Worship and Places of Veneration

Subject

Topic 5: What Does Religion Have to Do With It?

Description

This lesson explores modes of worship and religious tolerance during the medieval era. Students explore the role of religion in the Mediterranean during the period and analyze evidence of religious tolerance and shared artistic development throughout the region.

Creator

Tom Verde

Source

Our Shared Past in the Mediterranean: A World History Curriculum Project for Educators

Date

Rights

Duration

Lesson takes one 45-50 minute class period, longer if additional research is assigned.

Objectives

• Students will describe common elements between physical spaces of worship among Christians and Muslims

• They will identify sites that were used in common by worshippers of different faiths

• They will describe shared religious practices and concepts such as prayer and pilgrimage to holy sites across traditions

Materials

• Student Handout 3.5.1 – Religious Tolerance and Houses of Worship

Lesson Plan Text

1. Distribute or project Student Handout 3.5.1, “Religious Tolerance and Houses of Worship” on an LCD projector or Smartboard. Have the students read the handout text and consider the questions at the bottom of the handout.

2. If time permits, students may research further examples of shared religious spaces, practices such as pilgrimage, fasting, prayer and architectural commonalties. For example, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem also contains Byzantine mosaics that express Muslim views of Jesus. Stained glass windows such as those built into the cathedrals of Chartres and Notre Dame have roots in Byzantine and Syrian glass staining traditions, and owe much to the geometric tesselations of Islamic art. (See http://islamicspain.tv/Arts-and-Science/The-Culture-of-Al-Andalus/Glass.htm)